Hans-Ulrich Back

Hans-Ulrich Back (born August 26, 1896 in Saarbrücken , † February 14, 1976 in Hagen ) was a German major general in World War II .

Life

family

He was the son of the later Prussian major general Ulrich Back (1864-1947) and his wife Emmy Seebohm (1874-1915). His father had served in the Ottoman Empire from 1910 to 1917 as part of the German military mission .

Military career

Back came after the outbreak of World War I , first on August 4, 1914 as a cadet in the Ottoman army one. In mid-October 1914 he joined the Prussian Army and was employed in the 1st Hanoverian Infantry Regiment No. 74 . From mid-December 1914 to February 13, 1915, Back completed a training course in Döberitz and was then assigned to the Münster Infantry Battalion for a month. After completing his training, he was posted to his regiment in the field and wounded several times in the fighting on the Eastern and later on the Western Front . After Back was promoted to lieutenant on July 30, 1915 , he served in his regiment as platoon and company commander and as an orderly officer in the further course of the war . Back received both classes of the Iron Cross and the Wound Badge in silver for his achievements .

After the war and the demobilization closed back up in February 1919 the voluntary association "Haase" or the volunteer regiment "main". He was then in the Provisional Reichswehr adopted, but resigned on June 30, 1920, part of the further reduction of the armed forces under award of the character as a lieutenant from the military service. Back then joined the police service and acted u. a. as the leader of a hundred in Hanover. After completing a special tactical course at the Oak State Police School from December 6, 1934 to January 22, 1935 , Back was accepted into the army of the Wehrmacht in mid-October 1935 . With senior service from February 1, 1931, he became a captain company commander in the 60th Infantry Regiment. On January 1, 1936, he was promoted to major and on February 1, 1939 to lieutenant colonel . Shortly before the beginning of the Second World War, he was commissioned to lead the 2nd Rifle Regiment. Back was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on August 5, 1940 for his achievements during the Western campaign .

From August 26, 1940 to July 19, 1942, Back acted as commander of the 304th Rifle Regiment, was then transferred to the Führer Reserve and on September 15, 1942 appointed commander of the 11th Panzer Grenadier Brigade. In the further course of the war, after his promotion to major general on February 1, 1944, he served as commander of the 16th Panzer Division , the 178th Panzer Division and the 232nd Panzer Division . Back was seriously wounded on March 28, 1945 in Austria during the fighting against the Red Army . He experienced the end of the war in a hospital that was not joined by any prisoner of war.

literature

• Dermot Bradley (ed.), Karl-Friedrich Hildebrand, Markus Rövekamp: The Generals of the Army 1921–1945. The military careers of the generals, as well as the doctors, veterinarians, intendants, judges and ministerial officials with the rank of general. Volume 1: Abberger – Bitthorn. Biblio Verlag, Osnabrück 1993, ISBN 3-7648-2423-9 , pp. 143-144.

Individual evidence

1. ^ Klaus Wolf: Gallipoli 1915. The German-Turkish military alliance in the First World War. Report Verlag, Bonn 2008, ISBN 978-3-932385-29-2 , p. 234.
2. ↑ Veit Scherzer : Knight's Cross bearers 1939-1945. The holders of the Iron Cross of the Army, Air Force, Navy, Waffen-SS, Volkssturm and armed forces allied with Germany according to the documents of the Federal Archives. 2nd Edition. Scherzers Militaer-Verlag, Ranis / Jena 2007, ISBN 978-3-938845-17-2 , p. 198.